Sleeping Lessons
by Liber-T.E.A
Summary: After discovering that Tony has cheated on her, Pepper gets drunk. She wakes up the next day in the bed of the Black Widow. Natasha/Pepper, implied Tony/Bruce. Yuri. Implied yaoi.


This fic was inspired by listening to 'Sleeping Lessons' by the Shins on repeat while reading Avengers fics. Interesting combo...

(AAN: The cover art was made by luthien-black on dA. I just adapted it to be a cover...with permission, of course.)

I don't own the Avengers. Marvel does.

* * *

Peace. Quiet. And light to ruin her sleep. Pepper Potts rubbed her sleepy eyes, the sunlight in the window waking her up.

Within seconds, she realized that she wasn't in her apartment, or anywhere else she knew of. Sitting up, the near-blinding headache that suddenly hit her only meant one thing: she got wasted the night before. Pepper also noticed that her neck was sore, as if someone punched her.

"Sorry about that. I'm a little...rough in bed."

Pepper looked up, and her jaw dropped. In front of her, sitting on a chair looking out the window, was Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, and she was stark naked sipping coffee. Pepper blushed, and she looked down. She herself was completely nude, and she had hickeys on her shoulder (as well as teethmarks in the same place) and on her breast. She supposed that her neck pain was also a hickey, and upon taking a deep breath, Pepper discovered that the room smelled heavily of sex.

"I bet you're wondering what happened."

She took a deep breath, and she looked into Pepper's eyes. The spy's face was very serious.

The events of the past night then smashed into the CEO's brain like a freight train.

* * *

"_Ugh, it's good to be home."_

_Pepper entered Stark's rebuilt skyscraper ("Stark Tower II"), and she sighed. It had been a long flight from Los Angeles, where she attended a business meeting about PR related to the Arc Reactor now powering Stark Tower II. The whole affair literally was for nothing, as her PR reps had nothing new to show her. Idiots._

_She smiled to the security guard at the front desk as she entered the elevator. Since the whole Chitauri incident, security at the Tower had been beefed up, and she smirked knowing that that very security guard was ex-Green Berets and had a bulletproof vest on under his shirt and an assault rifle under the desk._

_The CEO was looking forward to sleeping in the next day, as it was almost midnight. However, she first wanted to say goodnight to her boyfriend. JARVIS located him in his room._

_When she left the elevator, she immediately was worried. A trail of clothing and what looked like dropped beer bottles lined the way to his room. Scowling to herself, she followed it._

_Upon entering the room, she couldn't believe her eyes. Spooning her lover in his bed was another Avenger, Bruce Banner. She had met him a few times, but it seemed like he and Tony were spending a lot of time together in the labs downstairs. Now she knew why._

_She felt like screaming, but she knew better. Waking up the Hulk would probably be the last thing she would ever do. Instead, she simply left to the elevator, and she went down a few floors._

* * *

_When Tony rebuilt the Tower, he didn't just do a minor restoration. He did a complete overhaul. What was once his HQ for his business and his superhero work was now a full-fledged base for the Avengers. Sure, the bottom fifty floors were for Stark Industries, but the upper twenty were not. There were floors for living, training, research, storing vehicles, and relaxing. That last one was where Pepper left the elevator._

_In the 'Entertainment Floor' (as Tony put it) there was an Olympic-sized pool, the world's largest arcade, an area made specifically for the viewing of sports on a massive, wall-sized television, and a fully-stocked bar._

_Pepper entered that bar wanting to drink her sorrows away. Learning that your boyfriend was cheating on you did horrible things to your emotional state, and only good-old alcohol made that go away. Even for the night, which was all she needed. She would rip him a new one in the morning._

_She ordered a shot of Jack Daniels (which she didn't like, but knew it would get her drunk faster) from JARVIS, who quickly obliged her, and she then sat there for a few minutes, nursing a glass of her favorite wine._

"_Hey."  
_

_Pepper looked over next to her, and Natasha was sitting there. The spy asked for a double of vodka, and she sighed._

"_Long day too, Natasha?"_

"_Yeah, like everyday. You?"  
_

"_Yeah. And it was terrible."_

_Natasha chuckled._

"_Mine too. The mission was annoying, and I didn't get any useful info out of it."  
_

_Pepper laughed._

"_Me too! Only it was PR people and they had me fly to L.A. for nothing!"  
_

_The Russian woman smiled, and she turned around on her stool so she could lean her back against the bar._

"_That reminds me of this one mission I did a long time ago..."_

* * *

"_...And so the guy FINALLY tells me who he's working for, but it turns out that I already took out that guy! And he wets himself as I'm holding him off the top of that building by his ankle, so he looks really pathetic. I couldn't even bring myself to let go! It wasn't worth my time!"_

_Pepper laughed._

"_That guy sounds completely incompetent! Reminds me of someone else I know..."_

* * *

"_...And I get home to find that he's in bed with Bruce!"_

_Natasha blinked._

_"B-Bruce? As in turns-into-big-angry-green-Hulk Bruce?"_

"_Yeah!"_

_Pepper turned angrily towards the bar._

"_JARVIS, another shot!"_

"_Miss Potts, I think I'm cutting you off now. You've had three shots of whiskey, two glasses of wine, and you don't have the best record of alcohol tolerance."_

_She huffed, and she turned back around, wobbling a bit from intoxication. Natasha sighed, and she put her arm around Pepper's shoulder. She leaned in close to Pepper's face, which made the CEO blush. Then again, she was already blushing from the drinks._

"_Sorry you had to go through that with Tony. I guess...he doesn't deserve you if that's how he treats you."  
_

"_Yeah..."_

_Pepper wasn't drunk enough to pass out, but drunk enough to impair her motor skills and judgment. However, Natasha thought it was a good idea to get her to bed. She herself wasn't anything more than buzzed, but her thinking was off now, and she was starting to have thoughts about Miss Potts that were...inappropriate, to say the least. _

"_C'mon. You need sleep."  
_

"_But my apartment is across town..."  
_

"_You can sleep with me in my room."  
_

_The spy put an arm under Pepper's arm, and she used the other to hoist her up. The two then stumbled to the elevator, and they rode it up to the living quarters._

* * *

_Once to Natasha's apartment, she helped the poor drunk woman into her bed. As she tried to lay out a sleeping bag on the floor, however, Pepper stopped her and pulled her into bed. Doing so made her land above the other woman, their faces an inch apart._

"_The floor is soooo uncomfortable. Sleep up here, with me!"  
_

_Natasha's mind was divided at that point. Her non-drunk side was telling her that it was a bad idea to do ANYTHING but sleep, and that she needed to say no. Her drunk side, however, was telling her to kiss the other redhead. And she did._

_Pepper tasted strongly of alcohol, but she didn't mind. Her body was horny and telling her that it had been far too long since she last had sex. Pepper, on the other hand, was too drunk to care, and it felt good to her._

_Soon, clothes went flying, the lights went off, and moans and grunts were thankfully held in the room by soundproofing._

* * *

Pepper couldn't help but blush. She had a drunken one-night stand with her former assistant, another woman, because her boyfriend had cheated on her with another man. So much drama, and such a big headache.

"I take it you remember now?"

She nodded, and Natasha smirked.

"I...have to go. Where are my clothes?"

Natasha frowned, and her eyes grew sad, but she pointed to the floor next to the bed. Pepper was gone in five minutes, leaving the spy to think about what she had done, and where she had went wrong.

* * *

Work was difficult that day for Pepper. She couldn't help but think of the previous night's events.

She had never been attracted to women at all, so she figured it must have been the wine. It couldn't have possibly been anything else...right? It confused her, but it also scared her. She didn't want to think about it, but she couldn't stop.

The thing is, it felt so GOOD. She remembered bits and pieces of it, like how Natasha held her and touched her in all the right places. How she held her as she reached her peak. How the spy involuntarily bit into her shoulder when SHE reached her peak, and how cute and relaxed her face was afterward, as if it blew off all her built-up tension. But most of all, how much better it felt than when she was with Tony.

It was all very confusing, but luckily for her, Tony walked in about an hour into the day, hangover-free (of which she was massively jealous) and sarcastic as usual.

"Mornin' Pep! How's my lovely CEO doing?"

She scowled at him, and he frowned.

"Okay, what did I do this time? I just got here..."

She stood up, and she took a deep breath to stay calm. Pepper was still very angry about her discovery even though she had her own wild night.

"I get home last night, and do you know what I find?"

He sports a confused face.

"You got home last night?"

"Yes Tony, I did, and I found you and Bruce together. In bed. Naked. You know..."

He freezes, and then he rubs the back of his neck.

"Yeah, busted. Explain yourself."

He took a deep breath.

"...Well, we got drunk. We'd just hit a breakthrough with the Arc Reactor's efficiency, and we celebrated. I woke up this morning in his arms, and I still can't remember anything after that fifth beer."

He chuckled.

"This morning was awkward, as I bet you could imagine, but not...horrible."

He sighed, and he looked her in the eye.

"I'm sorry. After we talked about it, it just felt so...right, you know?"

Pepper wanted to be angry, but his face was so pitiful. And not on purpose either.

"Alright."

She sat back down at her desk.

"Just know that we're done, okay?"

"Yeah...I know. I'm mad at myself, but if was so sudden. I wish I knew earlier so I could have let you know."

She looked up.

"Knew what?"

He sat down in front of her.

"I guess we both had been attracted to each other for a while. We just...clicked. We bonded over science and our hardships. It was inevitable..."

She softened a bit.

"I'll be. Mister Tony Stark, stumped by his own emotions."

"Yeah, well..."

Pepper rubbed her sore neck, and her collar shifted just long enough for Stark to see her hickey.

"Well hello there."

She blinked.

"What?"

"I'm not the only one who got laid last night."

She turned red as a tomato, and he burst out laughing.

"I-I got drunk after finding about you and Banner!"

He laughed harder.

"You? Drunk? If only I could have seen it!"

After a moment, he settled down.

"Soooo, who was it?"

"I'm not telling you!"

He cleared his throat, a smug look on his face.

"JARVIS? Please tell me who Mrs. Potts slept with last night."

"Sorry sir, that's rather...unethical."

He sighed, and he turned back to Pepper.

"I'm going to find out regardless, you know that right? Why not just get it over with?"

Her eyes narrowed in some anger.

"...Romanoff."

He couldn't believe his ears.

"Er, come again?"

"ROMANOFF!"

Tony was silent, but he smiled a lewd smile as he imagined it in his mind.

"...Awesome."

He leaned forward in his chair.

"Didn't know you swing that way, Potts."

He imagined it again.

"Sexy, SO DAMN SEXY."

She growled.

"I DON'T swing that way. It was a mistake."

He stopped his train of thought, and he quickly grew serious.

"Really? I noticed that you were deep in thought when I walked in, and I doubt hating my guts required much thinking at all. You were thinking about her, weren't you?"

Sometimes, Pepper really hated that he was a genius.

"Okay, so I was. What of it?"

He reclined in his chair.

"I think you liked it, and you're scared because you liked it."

He hit the nail on the head. She wanted to deny it, not just to him but to herself, but she couldn't. A tear welled up in her eye, and he was around the desk and holding her within a second.

"It's ok Pepper. Trust me."

She laughed darkly.

"How do you figure?"

"Simple: I just woke up a few hours ago in the arms of a good friend and teammate who also happens to be a guy. Trust me, I KNOW."

She sniffled.

"What do I do?"

He looked into her eyes, and he brushed away her tears.

"Why don't you talk to her about it? I'll cover your EVIL paperwork here for you today, so just go talk to her."

After a moment of thinking about it, Pepper nodded.

* * *

Wham! Pow! Crack!

Natasha discovered long ago that violence, even if not against a living being, was the perfect way to forget. The poor punching bag, however, would not survive at this rate.

She was in the training hall, the only person there. The other Avengers were doing their own various things, and she enjoyed the quiet.

Her thoughts kept turning back to earlier that day and the night before. She couldn't believe she was so stupid! She let her emotions get the better of her, and look where that got her! She bet that Pepper would never speak to her again!

She then, as she was setting up for a powerful kick, twisted her ankle. Natasha fell like a stone on the floor, clutching her leg. The gates burst, and Natasha started crying. She hated her day.

Then, she felt someone behind her, and two arms snaked around her. Pepper's arms. Her stomach filled with butterflies.

The CEO sat on the floor behind her, and she held her tightly until the redheaded spy stopped crying.

"Natasha...it'll be ok."

With a sniff, Natasha leaned back into her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I want to talk about last night...and about us."

She took a deep breath, and Natasha did the same. Both of their hearts were racing, and both were blushing from the close contact.

"Pepper...I was stupid. You were drunk, and I was too buzzed to tell myself not to...to use you like that. It's just that...I've been so stressed lately, and you're so pretty..."

"You...you think I'm pretty?

Natasha chuckled.

"Like I said, Stark doesn't deserve you."

Silence.

"Natasha, what was it? A one-night stand? Something more...?"

The spy tensed.

"Do...do you want it to be something more?"

Pepper thought about it, and she nodded.

"I want to try. It just felt so...right."

She then thought of her conversation earlier, and she laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm too much like Tony. Don't ask."

Natasha nodded.

"...You know, I'd like to know how good of a kisser you are when you DON'T smell like a bar. You wanna..."

Before she could finish the sentence, Potts turned her around and kissed her. So much passion, it was like a roaring flame between the two women. Before long, their hands were roaming. Then they stood up and headed for the elevator.

* * *

As the two redheads came off their sexual highs, they laughed together. Pepper leaned over and kissed her new lover on the cheek.

"You know, sex with you is just as amazing sober as it is drunk. In fact, I like it much more."

Natasha sighed. The afterglow was the best part of sex when you actually liked the person you were having sex with.

"True, very true."

Pepper looked at the clock. They had been in bed for a solid hour. Very nice. She put on a lazy smile, and she eased her way out of bed. Natasha was suddenly cold and lonely.

"Where are you going?"

Pepper was throwing a shirt and shorts on, and she looked up at the redhead.

"I'm going to get us something. I'll be right back."

Moments later, she was gone. Natasha stretched out, and she giggled.

It had been a long time since she had sex with someone she cared about. Sex used as a tactic during missions didn't count. The last person she CARED about was Clint, way back when they tried dating. It didn't go so well, as they were both too aggressive. Natasha liked women more then men, as she liked to be in control and men were...controlling in the bedroom. Usually. Women were usually softer, and more submissive.

Pepper was fairly submissive, as she was new to the whole 'lesbian' thing. Or rather, bisexual thing. Whatever. It didn't matter, not to her. All that mattered was that they were together. She smiled as she pictured the memory of the other redhead at the top of her climax, holding her tightly and in spasms one second then turning into goo the next and squeaking like a mouse. She could get used to this.

Just then, her cell phone rang, the tune being Black Sabbath. Tony, of course.

"Hello?"

"Natasha, how are ya babe?"

She blinked, and she scowled.

"I was having a great time...until you called."

"Did I interrupt anything...steamy?"

She blushed.

"WHAT?"

He burst out laughing, almost deafening her.

"Too damn funny...oh by the way, is Pepper there?"

She facepalmed. Of course he knew.

"NO, she just left."

"Ask her about her opinions on foursomes, would'ya?"

She screamed into the phone, and she hung up.

"STUPID STARK!"

"Are you alright?"

Pepper had returned, and she had a bottle of champagne and two glasses. She looked worried.

"Ah, it's nothing. Tony called, and he asked about a 'foursome'."

Pepper took that info in for a second, and she nodded.

"I'm going to kill him when I see him next."

The Russian woman smirked.

"Only if I don't kill him first."

"How about we kill him together?"

"Sounds good."

Pepper turned away, and she popped the cork. Natasha helped her pour it, and the two raised their glasses.

"To us."

"Hear, hear."

They drank, they kissed, and they fell back onto the bed.

* * *

Tony put his phone away as he entered the elevator. That was payback for the paperwork, which she had neglected apparently all day while she was pining away for the Black Widow, causing it to really stack up for him. He smirked, and he hit the button to take him to the lab. He needed to see Bruce.

* * *

I just wrote that whole thing in four hours. Somebody please review!


End file.
